My First Adventures In Hawaiian Quilting

You know that you're addicted to sewing when you take your quilting with you on vacation to the Big Island of Hawaii.  ...and what better project to take than a Hawaiian appliqued quilt block?  In case you aren't familiar with Hawaiian quilting, there is a great history and a lot of resources for you over at Poakalani.net (they also publish a wonderful series of pattern books that include instructions).  Simply stated, the Hawaiian quilting tradition that is practiced today arose from the teaching of traditional western applique quilting techniques to the islanders of Hawaii, who then combined this western technique with traditional Polynesian tapa cloth motifs.

My first project is a 22" sampler, which will be used as a throw pillow sham when complete.  The artwork starts with a 1/8th pie segment template that is used to cut the folded cotton, much as you would a tissue paper snowflake.  The design of this block is the Guava pattern by Apapane Quilting; you can see my work in the first stages, with the light yellow applique aligned on the creased backing fabric:

The next step in the applique process is to thoroughly hand-baste the applique fabric onto the backing.  I've basted loosely in the middle, just enough to keep things in place while I stitch:

No hoops are used while sewing the applique to the backing.  Here I am using a hand-sewing needle to needle-turn the edges of the applique under 1/8" and stitch by hand with a tiny pick stitch all the way around the motif.  Initially the turning was difficult and not as smooth as I'd like, but my stitches and turns are looking better as I near completion of the applique process!

Here you can see some of the finished applique work - mostly tidy, but the parts that are a little rough won't look as obvious after the next step of hand-quilting.  I'm loving the summery colors of citron and pale yellow here - bright reminders of breezy, sunny days stitching on the lanai!